The concept of bathing in modern society is defined as the activity of cleansing oneself while submerged in water. The thermae or baths and the custom of bathing in daily life in Ancient Rome was far more than this. It was an important part of everyday Roman life, and was a significant social and cultural experience that all citizens of Rome could afford to indulge in. Throughout both the Republic and Imperial Period, the establishment of bath complexes provided people with opportunities to discuss political and daily activities and held great influence over the development of the Roman Empire. Therefore, the provision of baths, both in Rome and across the empire, became integral components of the Roman society and civilisation.
The construction of the thermae came with an initial practical aim; to be a facility supporting cleanliness and physical wellbeing. Although the specific usage and structure of the space varied, all thermae had several consistently recurring features: an anointment room or space labelled the alipterion; an exercise ground called the palestrae; and the bathing rooms, of which there were usually three. The activities of each room were often taken in chronological order: “I am oiled, I take my exercise, I have my bath” (Pliny the Younger, Letters, 9.36). Upon arriving at the baths, one would have their skin greased with olive oil in the alipterion to protect it against injury and ensure that any dirt would be unable to clog the pores during exercise, as the palestrae were usually unpaved (refer Appendix 1). It was appropriate then to do something to raise a sweat before bathing.
As the baths were a place of recreation, ball games were the most popular activity in the palestrae, however some men participated in sports such as running, boxing, wrestling and fencing in special halls specific to them and separated from the women and children. While there was evidence of women participating in the latterly mentioned sports (refer Appendix 2), it would have been unusual and frowned upon. Mid-second century AD Roman poet Juvenal mocked society women who worked out with weights and dumbbells for infringing on a heavier branch of sports considered only for men (Yegül, 2010, p. 16), and this would have been a widely accepted opinion at the time. The tintinnabulum was the bell that signalled the end of exercise and the bathers would have the oil scraped from their bodies with a strigil (refer Appendix 3) either by personal slaves or by the bath-attendants, and then the bathers could move onwards to the baths themselves.
The baths came in different temperatures; in successive order they were the tepidarium, the calidarium and the frigidarium – tepid, hot and cold baths respectively. The calidarium and the frigidarium were the most significant rooms and as a result were the most architecturally imposing. All three of these major components attended to the hygiene and appearance of its clients in an almost excessive fashion – modern society perceives the Ancient Roman civilisation as one that is impressive in its quest for cleanliness and this is in large part due to the thermae, which were created to indulge this quest. The thermae shaped the identity and body culture of the Romans as a civilised, fit and hygienic society, and this was paramount to their image as a people.
Over time, it is evident that the Imperial Roman thermae became increasingly more extravagant, and ultimately this influenced the nature of the Romans themselves. Thermae were not constructed simply as bathhouses; designed to be a space of encompassing luxury and entertainment, as well as the three major facilities aforementioned they could include libraries, lecture halls, gardens, porticoes, cult shrines, and lavish decorations like monumental inscriptions, sculptural programmes, mosaics, and wall paintings. Quite clearly, “With the exception of Nero’s Golden House, no buildings were so splendidly furnished as the Thermae” (Aitchison, 1889, p. 374). Yet while the younger generations relished in the indulgences and excess of the thermae, members of the previous generations protested that the thermae encouraged decadence and cast aside the traditional Roman militaristic and frugal views – that the Empire was becoming less militaristic and more concerned with the material.
"… Demetrius made his way into the gymnasium itself and delivered himself of a philippic against people who bathed, declaring that they enfeebled and polluted themselves; and he showed that such institutions were a useless expense." (Philostratus, Life of Apollonius IV, 42)
According to Philostratus, Demetrius was banished from Rome under the Emperor Nero for speaking out against the thermae. Many others would have shared his opinion; Seneca the Younger was among this group, writing about his distaste for the thermae in his own work, and Pliny the Younger called excessive anointing and bathing a social disease. However others were not quite so outspoken about it because it was obviously dangerous to reject what the majority adored: “It would not be an exaggeration to say that at the height of their empire, public baths embodied the ideal Roman way of urban living” (Yegül, 2010, p. 24). Despite these doubts concerning the Roman military prowess, a century later, Roman historian Tacitus said “the lounge, the banquet, [and] the bath” were a “form of vice brought by the conquering Romans to Britain, which seduced the hardy native inhabitants of the island” (Tacitus, Agricola, 21) – the luxury and leisure that the Romans introduced to the countries they conquered helped them to do so peacefully. It is unsurprising that the thermae were so popular that they were often used as political leverage; in order to garner the support of the people, a senator might construct a new thermae and decorate it to please the citizens – besides this, it was a lucrative business proposition as nearly every citizen took their bath daily. Being in such high demand, so many thermae were built in Rome that they actually helped to define Rome’s imperial topography and as a result the baths were “intimately connected to the city’s civic identity and its image as eternal Rome, an imperial capital and residence of the emperors” (DeForest, 2013, p. 44). The nature of the baths changed the nature of the Romans, their society and their Empire.
Thermae were the most popular form of secular architecture over the course of the Republic and Imperial Periods, intended for the masses, and in their reputation influenced every member of Roman society individually and as a group. As a result of their deep roots in culture, baths were popular with the Romans because bathing had become a daily habit – “and the more they liked it the more likable it became; the effect fortified the cause” (Yegül, 2010, p. 2). Bathing had become an institution that was rooted in the rhythm and structure of their day, just as a meal might be in modern Western society, and it was ensconced in their concept of time. As a result, or perhaps because the fee was low enough to allow clients of all social classes and all ages were admitted, for at least several hours a day, there was an illusion of “classless nudity” (Yegül, 2010, p. 6) and social barriers could be overlooked in the baths. The rich and poor alike could bask in the riches of Rome and feel the pride of belonging to the Empire, and the trials and tribulations that plagued them during the day could be disremembered with this experience. This created a sense of well-being and belonging to a group, which gave the individuals a sense of identity, patriarchy and national inclusivity, and a type of compensation for any frustration the poorer members of society may have felt towards the social injustices of the time. Martial, a Roman poet of the time, contemplated how life would be as a poor citizen of Rome and his words describe how romanticised and removed from reality the concept of bathing became to all classes, and as a result show why they became a mediator for the attitudes of the Romans in their entertainment.
"We should know nothing of the halls and mansions of the mighty, nor sour lawsuits and the gloomy Forum, nor haughty death-masks: but riding, chatting, books, the Field, the colonnade, the shade, the Virgin, the baths—these should be our daily haunts, these our labours." (Martial, Epigrams, 5.20.5-10)
Not only would the world of the baths have been a welcome escape for the poor from their overcrowded and cramped living conditions, but they would most likely have been the only opportunity to bathe for many, so all Roman citizens would have indulged in a public bath at some point in their life and have experienced the social effects of the thermae. Due to the sheer amount of people who used and would have been affected by the cultures encouraged by the thermae, and their inclusive nature, their influence over every citizen of Rome became an imperative component in the development of the Empire.
The imperial thermae of Rome were also representative of and prominent in Ancient Roman culture in the technology and engineering they inspired. While water cleansed and provided the basic condition for bathing, heat made the cleaning more effective and created the comfort and relaxation necessary for bathing and social activities associated with it. However, at the time, methods for sustaining heated water and air without an open fire were few and untested in large part; thus the hypocaust and aqueduct systems were introduced. The hypocaust system was developed specifically for the heating of the air in the tepidarium and calidarium and involved the floor being raised by stone or brick pillars and the walls being hollowed to allow room air from a hot furnace in another room to circulate and heat the surfaces of the bath rooms. Ancient Roman author and architect Vitruvius explained in detail:
"The vaulted chambers which contain the basins [tepidarium and calidarium] are to be heated from the common furnace. The hanging floors of the hot baths [suspennsurae caldariorum] are to be made as follows: first the ground is to be paved with eighteen inch tiles [sesquipedalibus tegulis] sloping towards the furnace, so that when a ball is thrown it does not rest within, but comes back to the furnace room of itself. Thus the flame will more easily spread under the floor. On this pavement, piers of eight inch bricks [laterculis bipedales] can be placed above. The piers are to be two feet high. They are to be laid in clay worked up with hair, and upon them two foot tiles [bipedales] are to be placed to take the pavement." (Vitruvius, De architectura, 5.10.2-3)
This hypocaust system has also been found replicated in the excavation of many other buildings since the Imperial Period, showing the extent to which this technology impacted the culture of engineering in the Empire. A hypocaust found in Arles, France, shows the pillars and elevated floor under which hot air would have circulated (refer Appendix 4), and gives an insight into exactly how far the reach of the Empire spread, and by extension how significant the development of hypocausts were. Aqueducts were invented before the growth of the thermae, but instead were improved on to accommodate for use in the thermae. They were initially stone, brick or concrete pipes underground that used gravity to transfer water from place to place. The thermae had aqueducts installed not only underground but in the walls, to transfer water of different temperatures to designated rooms. The hypocausts and aqueducts were revolutionary in their time, and became objects of public interest and civic pride as the Romans admired their own progressivism, becoming a vital part of the society and lending to the pride and enterprise of the Ancient Roman civilisation.
A place of recreation, socialisation, and luxury, the Roman Baths were far more than mere places of cleansing. Every citizen of Rome indulged in the cultural opportunity that the thermae presented and the ritual was a source of great pride to the Empire. It is clear that the provision of baths, both in Rome and across the Empire, were ingrained into Roman society and civilisation.
S O U R C E S R E F E R E N C E D
Unfortunately, this is an old essay from 4 or 5 years ago and I no longer have my bibliography. I was lucky to recover the content. However, my in-text references still exist so it is possible for the reader to find these sources if they are so inclined.
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